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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26072014">Vibe Check</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheeWolf85/pseuds/SheeWolf85'>SheeWolf85</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vibe Check [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adulting is hard, Angst, Late night thoughts, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Reminiscing, So much angst but they love each other so much so it doesn't matter, anger issues, as long as they're together they can take on the world</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:48:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,332</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26072014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheeWolf85/pseuds/SheeWolf85</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a hard few days. Edge can't say what's going to happen next, but all that matters is he and Stretch are together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Papyrus/Papyrus (Undertale), Spicyhoney</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vibe Check [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1919458</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Vibe Check</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/freshiewrites/gifts">freshiewrites</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Based on an emotion of sorts from Freshie in discord chat. I couldn't resist the urge to write this. </p><p>The song Freshie was inspired by is "Sloppy Seconds" by Watsky.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The night was warm and humid. The breeze coming in through the open window did nothing to ease the heat coursing over Edge’s bones, but he hadn’t expected it to. He wasn’t sitting here to get relief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Smoking inside wasn’t exactly prohibited, but it was frowned upon, and as much as Edge honestly didn’t care who frowned at him, Stretch did. They’d come to a compromise that they’d at least smoke at the window so the smell wouldn’t drift as much into their neighbor’s spaces. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sky was dark, no moon tonight and only a small spattering of stars where the cloud cover let them shine through. City lights shone hazily through a cloud of smog, and Edge could only imagine the smoke he exhaled joining the rest of the pollution around them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Inside the apartment wasn’t much better, to be honest. Edge tried to keep up on the housework, but the past few days had been bad. He’d woken up feeling jittery and unstable for three days now, unsure how to get settled enough to wash the dishes or pick up clutter without breaking something. Work hadn’t even been enough to get his agitation under control despite the heavy physicality of it. He’d even been told to take a few extra breaks to calm down during his shift, something his foreman was serious about given Edge’s history. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edge should have been thankful that someone was looking out for him. Instead, he was full of spite and venom, wishing he could take that sledgehammer or maybe even that jackhammer and fuck up a few of those protesters across the street.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe that was it. The protesters had been there since the start of the project. Not the first Edge had been on, not by a long shot, but the community building was the one that got the most attention. It was going to be a safe place for both monsters and humans to learn and grow together. What was there to even protest? What kind of asshole did a person have to be to decide that monster children shouldn’t have the same kind of fun, interactive activities that human children did? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just thinking about it made Edge’s marrow boil, hatred raging in his soul. He’d come so close on one of his forced breaks to walking over to those protesters and showing them just how dangerous monsters could truly be. They all deserved so much worse than Edge could deliver, but how satisfying would it be to see their bigoted brains spattered around the concrete? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edge wouldn’t say that the </span>
  <em>
    <span>only</span>
  </em>
  <span> thing that stopped him was thoughts of Stretch, but his boyfriend was the only thing that mattered enough to him in the moment to actually pay attention to. Stretch needed him. If Edge acted on his anger, he’d be arrested again, and Stretch would be alone. Again. He wouldn't let that happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t let it happen. He’d been a good boy, stayed in the little trailer that had been designated the break room and texted with Stretch until he was deemed calm enough to go back to work. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edge took a long drag of the nearly finished cigarette between his fingers and let it out slowly. Stretch had been proud of him, and hadn’t that been something. Nobody had been proud of him in...ever. His brother--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No. Don’t think about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His thoughts went there anyway. Brief flashes of memory of his brother drinking his problems away after Edge had been discharged for beating the shit out of his superior for hurting one of the women in his troop, getting into as much trouble as possible because if Edge couldn’t uphold the law without getting into trouble for it while he was in the fucking military, what use was there for the law to begin with? He’d pushed the limits too many times and had paid the price. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To keep his thoughts from wandering into even more dangerous territory, he turned enough to look back into the room, at the bed he shared with Stretch. Stretch was currently asleep, snoring softly, and Edge wouldn’t have stopped the small smile that pulled at his mouth if he could have. Despite the thick, dark circles under his sockets, despite the slight tremor in his restless bones--even asleep he was often more jittery than Edge on his worst days--and despite the events of the day, he was here. They were together. It was all Edge could ask for. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Although, if he were honest with himself, the events of Stretch’s day weren’t much better than his own. He’d come home to see Stretch on the couch, not napping but staring blankly at the ceiling like he did when he was thinking too deeply about all the mistakes he’d made in his life. It had taken until after dinner for Stretch to sort out whatever was in his skull enough to speak, and what Edge had heard had made his soul boil once more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d been fired that afternoon because he forgot to set his alarm. Again. Even though Edge had reminded him to set it before he’d left for work that morning. He was a dumbass and a failure and a horrible excuse for a monster and waste of space and a--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except he wasn’t any of those things. Edge had shut him up with a kiss; he didn’t want to hear his apologies or his self-deprecating thoughts. What he wanted to do was march up to Stretch’s idiot of a boss and demand he give Stretch his job back. It wasn’t his fault he was so forgetful, and he was trying, dammit! He tried so fucking hard, all the time, but he never gave himself the credit he deserved. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They hadn’t talked about what they were going to do. No, they’d spent hours loving each other as much as they could, because sometimes it felt like the only thing they were good at. Edge excelled at loving Stretch, the only thing he could honestly say he could never fuck up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stretch had fallen asleep not long after midnight. Edge had held him for a long while before the restless itch in his bones demanded he get up and move. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so here he was, sitting by the open window smoking and thinking and watching his lover sleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He still didn’t care to think about what they were going to do. They needed two incomes to afford this place, and past experience had taught Edge that Stretch needed a month or two to get back on his mental feet before he could even begin to apply for another job. That was okay. Edge had learned a few less than legal ways to earn a few extra coins here and there, and there were always unfinished basements they could sneak into. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wouldn’t suggest that Stretch call his brother. Blue was fairly well-off now that Stretch was out of his non-existent hair, and despite their weekly calls being sugar coated to the point of outright lies, Stretch would never ask his brother for help. Edge knew Blue would, in a heartbeat, but he also knew why Stretch would refuse. He could try to convince Stretch that he wasn’t a burden on his brother, but he’d given up on that endeavor a long time ago. It wasn’t worth the fight it would undoubtedly cause. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As long as they were together, whatever happened in the future didn’t matter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edge finished the cigarette and tamped it out with the others he’d smoked that evening. He closed the window, triple checking the latch before he made his way back to bed. Stretch mumbled in his sleep and automatically curled into Edge’s side. Edge’s arms wrapped around him just as automatically, and he pressed a kiss to the top of his lover’s head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was what mattered. Having Stretch with him, being able to love him. Dishes and laundry and jobs could wait. Edge just needed this. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks so much for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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